Hi, I’m Lisa Williams, the PTA Council Membership chairman. I want to introduce myself before the school year gets along too fast. Hope you are having a great summer and starting to think about the upcoming school year. The Texas PTA Membership theme for 08/09 is “Be A Hero!” and we’ll be playing with that theme throughout the year. You don't have to have superpowers to be a hero in the eyes of a child. Logos are available for downloading from the “Members Only” part of the Texas PTA web site. There are all sorts of membership resources available on the Texas PTA website and I know more are coming. If you haven’t visited the site yet, go to www.texaspta.org and sign in as a member. If you do not have the username and password (found on your membership card), please email me. Go to the Forms tab and pick Membership. Then pick Local Membership Forms. You will see there is a lot of good information! I know many of you have already been hard at work with your membership drives and I hope you are finding it easy to encourage parents (and high school students) to join. I’ve already heard from many of you, but if you have any membership questions, I’m happy to help you find the answers you need.
If you have not received your membership card, please call Texas PTA at 1-800-TALK-PTA and let them know the situation so they can get them to you ASAP.
I’ll be sending out information to you about the Life Member Banquet in a few weeks. Until then, know that plans are in the works and everything that needs to happen for that.
How much are PTA dues? There are several kinds of dues. The local membership rate is comprised of the National dues ($1.75/per person), plus the Texas dues ($1.25/per person), plus the local portion (this is set by the by-laws of the local campus). Additionally, each local PTA pays annual dues of $75.00 to Plano ISD Council of PTAs. Please keep in mind that if a PTA member decides to claim his/her Texas Life PTA status at any one given school, they are only reducing their dues by the Texas dues of $1.25. They must still pay the National dues and your Local dues to be a PTA member in our community. Please be on the look out for the PTA Council dues form, which will be inter-office mailed to you in the next week or so. I look forward to working with you this year and to seeing you soon!
If there is anything I can do to make your job a bit easier or help you find the information you need, please let me know. If you are able to attend any of the PTA Council regular meetings (see schedule on www.planopta.org, please come say hello to me! I look forward to working with you this year!
Please save the date - Tuesday, September 9, 10:30-12:00 is our Fall Membership Workshop. We’ll go over any questions you have about membership campaigns, awards, life member banquet and more! It is a great chance to get to know some of the other membership chairs and learn from their success. If your initial membership numbers are not what you were hoping for, we’ll talk about easy and proven ways you can encourage membership. If you attended the Officer and Chairman’s training in May, you already have many of the starter tools you need. The fall workshop will build on that and not be a complete repeat.
Contact chair: membership@planopta.org
Contact chair: membership [at] planopta.org
The theme for 2008 - 2009 is "Be a Hero." You don't have to have superpowers to be a hero in the eyes of a child. Here are resources related to heroes to help you with the theme:
* Superheroes: Metropolitan Museum of Art Fashion and Fantasy exhibit
* Superhero Database
* Wikipedia on Superhero and Hero
* Definition of a Superhero [pdf file]
* Superhero Hype
* Superheroes in real life
* Superhero songs
* 10 real-life superheroes
* Superhero birthday party theme ideas
* Superhero theme in schools
* What is a hero?
Logos are available for downloading from the members only part of the Texas PTA web site. More information and resources on membership is also available [requires login ID and password from the back of your membership card].
* Training and other materials [password protected area — use ID and password on back of PTA card]
What Is PTA? Brochure in Six Languages
* Cover and outside content [pdf file]
* Inside content [pdf file]
Awards: There have been changes to membership awards.
Benefit Card: Important information about using the new Texas PTA Member Benefit Card.
Chair Guide: For new and experienced Membership Chairmen, the best resource available is the Texas PTA Membership Chair Guide. This will cover all aspects of membership including campaigns, forms, suggestions, ideas, awards and more!
Dues: Local units must remit council dues of $75 by October 1. You can download the dues form [doc file].
Life Members: Congratulations to 2007 Texas PTA Honorary Life Members. A comprehensive list of Plano Life Members is forthcoming.
Texas PTA Membership Benefit Card Info
Texas PTA member discount information has been collected and posted in the member-only section of the Texas PTA website. You'll need the username and password from the back of your PTA Membership Card or Texas PTA Member Benefits Card to access it. Both the 2006-2007 username and password and the 2007-2008 username and password will work.
Each participating company has slightly different ways of accessing the PTA member benefits, but none of them work by showing your card. Here is the list of benefits. Beneficios de los miembros de la Asociación de Padres y Maestros en espanol [pdf].
Membership Awards Info
Plano ISD Council of PTAs has received notification that Texas PTA has eliminated two membership awards - the Hand-in-Hand and the 100% Participation Award.
Now, we know y'all have been working hard to INCREASE your PTA membership and we really appreciate it and want to encourage you to continue! Both the Hand-in-Hand award and the 100% Participation award are awesome goals, and will help you build a stronger, more vibrant PTA at your school.
So, we've decided to create a Plano ISD Council of PTAs award called... Hand-in-Hand Award and another one called...100% Participation Award! Ok, no points for originality! Because I have heard such great ideas about how you are conducting your membership drives this year, we've also added an award called... Creative Membership Campaign. So, please continue your wonderful efforts to gather those PTA members and community members. The award entry form to apply for any of these three is due by 10/31.
Thank you for your commitment to our community and your school's success! If you have any questions, please let me know.